BMW slapped with $13 mn fine and jail term for emission cheat

A South Korean court imposed a 14.5 billion won ($12.97 million) fine on BMW Korea, local unit of German luxury auto brand BMW, for forging emissions documents.

The Seoul Central District Court on Thursday also sentenced eight to 10 months in prison to three former and incumbent employees in charge of emission certification for violating the domestic laws. Due to the regulation that punishes both a company and workers related to the crime, BMW Korea was also slapped with a fine of 14.5 billion won.

Although there is a difference in certification rules between Germany and Korea, their actions of falsifying emissions that significantly affect the environment deserve punishment, the court said.

Their crimes also undermined the Seoul authority’s policy to improve air quality and betrayed consumer trust, it added.

BMW Korea was accused of forging emission test results to receive approval for import from 2011 to 2015. It was also charged with importing vehicles that don’t receive emission certification from 2013 to August 2018.